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Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one’s mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

Dictionaries :: Month

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Month:

From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law downward the religious feasts commencing with the Passover depended not simply on the month, but on the moon; the 14th of Abib was coincident with the full moon; and the new moons themselves were the occasions of regular festivals (Numbers 10:10; 28:11-14). The commencement of the month was generally decided by observation of the new moon. The usual number of months in a year was twelve, as implied in 1 Kings 4:7; 1 Chronicles 27:1-15 but since twelve lunar months would make but 354 1/2 days, the years would be short twelve days of the short twelve days of the true year, and therefore it follows as a matter of course that an additional month must have been inserted about every third year, which would bring the number up to
thirteen. No notice, however, is taken of this month in the Bible. In the modern Jewish calendar the intercalary month is introduced seven times in every nineteen years. The usual method of designating the months was by their numerical order, e.g. "the second month," (Genesis 7:11). "the fourth month," (2 Kings 25:3) and this was generally retained even when the names were given, e.g. "in the month Zif, which is the second month." (1 Kings 6:1)

The names of the months belong to two distinct periods. In the first place we have those peculiar to the period of Jewish independence, of which four only, even including Abib, which we hardly regard as a proper name are mentioned, viz.:

The names of the remaining five occur in the Talmud and other works; they were,

Iyar, the second, Targum; (2 Chronicles 30:2)Tammuz, the fourth;Ab, the fifth;Tisri, the seventh; andMarcheshvan, the eighth

The name of the intercalary month was Ve‐adar, i.e. the additional Adar.

The identification of the Jewish months with our own cannot be effected with precision on account of the variations that must inevitably exist between the lunar and the solar month.

Nisan (or Abib) answers to March;Zif or Iyar to May;Sivan to June;Tammuz to July;Ab to August;Elul to September;Ethanim or Tisri to October;Bul or Marcheshvan to November;Chisleu to December;Tebeth to January;Sebat to February;and Adar to March.

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